Issue Girls Get It Right
by bofoddity
Summary: Claire and Gretchen go on a date, and things are worked out. Claire/Gretchen.


**Disclaimer:** Heroes isn't mine. Just in case somebody didn't get the memo.

**Issue Girls Get It Right**

All things considered, Gretchen Berg would say she's a very easy-going person. Dead people don't scare her way from a new friend. Attempted murders are temporary setbacks. Having the girl you're crushing on run out on you over and o- okay, Gretchen could have done without that, but considering that eventually led to Gretchen getting the best girlfriend she can't say that it wasn't totally worth it. So in all truth it could be said that Gretchen Berg could deal with just about anything.

Yet as she and Claire step into a movie theater and a sea of heads turn towards them, Gretchen finds herself reconsidering her conclusion.

"There's a mob coming for us," she whispers, fascinated by how time seems to slow around them; countless eyes setting on them, the dawn of recognition washing over many, many faces, the sudden wave of movement, and then everything is in real-time again as Claire grabs her hand and they make a run for it. Neither of them has superspeed, but Gretchen discovers that both of them can imitate having one pretty well.

"Here," Claire gasps few moments of panic later and they slip into a crack of an alley, with Gretchen flattening herself against the wall while Claire flattens herself against Gretchen. Gretchen wonders if they should be the other way around, but the feeling of Claire's body squeezing tight against hers has a funny way of draining her words away. In her silence, she realizes something else instead.

"I don't think they're following us anymore."

It's late in the evening and the dusk is starting to turn into darkness, so even with their proximity - their chests heaving in unison, the soft rush of Claire's breathing against her collarbone - Gretchen can't quite make out Claire's exact expression, but she can make out the puzzlement in the other girl's eyes.

"You think so?" Gretchen feels cold when Claire pulls away from her and glances at the mouth of the alley and the open street beyond it, then turns back to Gretchen. "Did we just massively over-react?"

Gretchen isn't sure. She still misses Claire's warmth against her now lonely body, but now that she thinks about it maybe it wasn't a mob she saw. Maybe it was more of a bunch of teenagers making noise at the ticket line, along with a fussy parent-and-child group or two, and some individual kids. Gretchen might have been scared by the kids.

"It's possible." Gretchen admits, sheepish. She withdraws from the wall and doesn't miss the cold, scratchy surface of it at all, although she thinks her skin is going to remember it for a while. With nightmares and loathing. Gretchen tugs at her dress - the only one she has actually - until it's back to being as unwrinkled as possible and starts her defense.

"To be fair though, you've been extremely visible later," she says, emphasizing the 'you' with an accusingly pointed finger. She pretends her finger isn't intimidated by Claire's eyebrow lift and crook of a smirk, even though it's pointed more at Claire's chest than at her face. "You've been on television. And in the papers!" Gretchen has all sorts of evidence collected about that too, in case there will be a moment in the future she feels sorry for herself and wants to remember dating a famous person. "So we need to be prepared for people chasing us. Constant vigilance!"

Gretchen is proud of her fierce arguments, so when Claire laughs at them she should be annoyed, but damn if some smiling and laughing doesn't make Claire even more adorable than usual. The sheer extent of the cute - crinkles around the eyes, the flash of teeth, the fact Claire looks like the only kind of doll Gretchen would love to play with - is almost so distracting that Gretchen misses how Claire's laughter fades to an end, and she lifts her hands as if to fend Gretchen off.

"Okay, okay! Your instincts know the best!" Claire grins and stretches her hand out to Gretchen. "Wanna skip to the dinner part of our date?"

Gretchen's instincts are pleased to be validated, and wouldn't mind milking Claire for some more. Gretchen herself, however, is hungry, and Claire's hand is there and it's graspable, so she takes it.

The restaurant - well, a diner - is close enough that they don't have to go get their car, so they take their time strolling down the street, their pace slow and lazy like a stretching cat's. The night air feels soft on Gretchen's skin while Claire's hand is a little hot in comparison, sweaty in Gretchen's own, but it holds her tight, and Gretchen likes to imagine that there's a touch of possession in that grip. A little possession is hot like that. They're walking the perfect walk and the last thing Gretchen should be thinking about is how long she and Claire are meant to last.

Gretchen tries to shoo the thought away, swat it with a mental broom, but it doesn't leave, and soon she finds herself thinking it through. Claire has been so busy lately, making appearances and doing interviews, and while the hottest steam of her fame is finally starting to fade, Gretchen knows Claire wants to heat it up again. And even if that doesn't work out Claire has other plans; she's hoping to visit the carnival again and maybe even stay there for a while, and she wants to do something big with the Petrelli-side of her family, to encourage other people with powers to come out. Claire wants to do all kinds of exciting things and Gretchen has no idea if she fits among any of them.

And if the thoughts themselves aren't distressing enough, Gretchen knows she's being a hypocrite. Claire has left her so many times, but she has also come back after every such time, proving Gretchen's insecurities wrong over and over again. It's so ungrateful of her to still hang onto every doubt, but she just can't help it.

"Gretchen?"

Claire's fingers are a little too tight around hers, prompting an 'ow' and a frown, but then Gretchen realizes why; lost in thought, she started drifting away, and in response Claire stopped walking, waiting for her to come around again.

"You know that I'm not actually mad at you for the movie thing, right?" Now that she has Gretchen's attention again, Claire steps in front of her and reaches out to take her other hand too, looking up at her with concern. "I know I can be a jerk."

Hearing that Claire can be a jerk is kind of like hearing that two comes after one, so Gretchen snorts. "You think I haven't noticed?"

"If anyone has, it's you," Claire says, her tone so serious that Gretchen feels bad about her amusement. But Claire doesn't care about that, moving a little closer to Gretchen so that she can lift her hands up Gretchen's shoulders, and the way her palms mold against Gretchen makes sure Gretchen can't concentrate on anything but her.

"Look, I know there's been a lot going on in my life. Again." Claire pauses as if to ponder what that implies about her, and the hint of a frown on her forehead is yet another thing that Gretchen finds absolutely irresistible. A frown. She really needs to stop finding every single thing about Claire so damn hot. The frown smoothens away as Claire goes on: "And that's never going to stop. I'm attention-seeky like that."

"You're a junkie for it," Gretchen agrees, and Claire nods to agree with her agreement. And inches just a bit closer to Gretchen during the nod.

"But I'm not going anywhere." Claire slides her hands up to Gretchen's neck and over the jawline to her face, pulling her down. She pecks Gretchen on the lips, so lightly that the touch is almost nothing but body heat, and Gretchen longs to lean into it. But Claire still has things to say, and Gretchen has to listen. Has to hear.

"I want to be who I am, but I also want to be with you. I want to be who I am with you." Claire's hands start moving down, slow and lingering, all the way back to Gretchen's shoulders and further until she's touching Gretchen only with her fingertips. "Unless, of course, you're just dying to bail out on me. That's totally cool." Claire's eyes say otherwise, but she tries to smile. "I get it."

There is only one way to deal with a stupid conclusion like that, so Gretchen takes it. She cups Claire's face and leans down to turn the peck into a thorough kiss.

She leans down a little too fast and manages to mash her teeth against Claire's upper lip, but the fumbling is forgotten as Claire wraps her arms around Gretchen's neck, pressing close so that instead of just body heat Gretchen feels the entire Claire, from her hot mouth to the warmth of her skin, to the shape of her thigh as it presses against Gretchen's. Gretchen remembers to breathe, but feels a little dizzy anyway by the time their mouths fall apart from each other, and she gladly takes support from Claire's shorter form.

"Did that feel like bailing out to you?" she asks, pleased by how Claire seems to be just as breathless as she is, if a little steadier on her feet. She notices that a strand of hair is about to get into Claire's eyes and brushes it away, adding: "Besides, that's your specialty."

Claire blinks at her, dazed. "Well," she says, dropping her arms down to Gretchen's waist, "it's a sucky specialty."

"No arguments here." Gretchen laughs, happy to hear Claire join in, and this time she doesn't feel quite so cold when they draw apart, though Claire who's up close is so much preferable to Claire who's far away. "So, we had a dinner to go to?"

"Yeah." Claire links her fingers with Gretchen's again, smiling. "Let's go, I'm starving."

The rest of their walk is too short for any deeper thoughts, but with her hand in Claire's like it's always meant to be there, Gretchen knows that the next time doubts enter her mind, she has more than enough arsenal to make sure they never come back.


End file.
